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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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A 


FEB  11  1953 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLED 


AN   ADDRESS 


BY 


^ 


A.  W.  DRURY,  D.  D. 


Delivered  September  7,  1892,  at  the  Opening  of 
Union  Biblical  Seminary. 


DAYTON,  OHIO : 

United  Brethren  Publishing  House. 
1893. 


FAITH  AND   KNOWLEDGE. 


Theoretical  and  philosophical  subjects  are  often  regarded 
as  wanting  in  practical  effect  and  as  unprofitable.  Yet  as  they 
have  to  do  with  foundations  and  systems  and  ideals,  they  under- 
lie and  direct  practice,  and  are  vital  to  every  interest  of  man. 
This  does  not  mean  that  all  that  claims  to  be  philosophy  or 
metaphysics  is  profitable  or  intelligible.  Yet  in  spite  of  what 
is  misty,  contradictory,  or  subversive  in  philosophy,  there 
is  much  that  is  clear,  that  is  established,  that  is  stimulating, 
and  that  serves  as  a  safeguard.  Much  that  was  once  specula- 
tion now  has  the  character  of  science.  Philosophical  training 
does  not  mean  so  much  the  storing  away  of  philosophy  as  a 
learning  to  philosophize, — to  be  able  to  stand  or  go  alone.  So 
a  theological  education  should  not  mean  simply  the  learning 
of  theology,  but  also  the  development  of  the  faculty,  so  to 
speak,  for  theologizing.  Dr.  Davis,  in  his  connection  with 
Union  Biblical  Seminary,  was  accustomed  to  say  to  his  stu- 
dents, "Try  to  speculate  a  little."  Mastery  in  any  department 
means  the  cultivation  of  the  talent  that  would  tend  to  make  us 
producers  in  that  department. 

Two  years  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the  venerable 
Dr.  McCosh  in  his  study  at  Princeton.  I  said  to  him  that  I 
had  seen  the  statement  that  of  the  four  hundred  students  in 
philosophy  who  were  under  him  at  Princeton  four  only  had 
graduated  skeptics,  and  that  these  four  afterward  became 
Christians,  three  of  them  entering  the  Christian  ministry. 
Here  he  corrected  the  statement,  saying,  "There  were  five.    All 


4  FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE. 

of  them  became  Christians  except  one,  and  I  would  have  got 
him  too,  but  he  married  a  frivolous  wife  and  moved  to  Ohio." 
I  suppose,  the  influence  of  the  frivolous  wife  being  taken  into 
account,  that  if  he  had  moved  to  any  other  place  than  Ohio 
the  outcome  would  have  been  equally  bad. 

President  Charles  G.  Finney  gave  such  an  exaggerated 
importance  to  the  will  and  practical  elements  that  he  seemed 
to  his  ecclesiastical  associates  to  break  away  from  the  old- 
time  orthodoxy;  yet  in  beginning  a  series  of  revival  meetings 
he  sometimes  took  as  his  first  subject  the  theme  "Do  we 
know  anything?"  In  the  meeting  conducted  by  him  many 
stalwart  men,  habituated  to  the  thought  and  ways  of  the  world, 
were  led  to  Christ.  Practical  men  very  generally  under- 
estimate their  debt  to  the  world's  thinkers.  If  men  are  not 
serious,  they  will  not  and  cannot  become  Christians;  if  they 
do  not  have  convictions,  they  will  not  be  serious;  if  they  have 
a  wrong  or  loose  view  of  knowledge,  proper  convictions  are 
impossible. 

IDEALISM 

asserts  that  we  cannot  know  anything  beyond  our  own  ideas, 
that  we  cannot  know  the  external  world, — in  some  of  its  forms 
asserts  that  there  is  no  external  world.  Before  the  idealistic 
theory  was  wroiight  out  fully  and  followed  to  its  consequences, 
not  a  few  thoughtful  men  accepted  it.  The  problem  of  prob- 
lems is.  How  can  man  know?  All  great  philosophers  have 
begun  their  struggle  at  this  point.  Especially  where  life  and 
thought  are  not  brought  close  together,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
great  mistakes  are  made.  In  humble  things  likely  to  be  over- 
looked or  disdained  by  the  proud  philosopher, — in  things 
possessed  by  all  men,  or  within  the  reach  of  all  men, —  are  the 
things  out  of  which  philosophy  must  build,  and  from  which 
it  must  meekly  accept  correction.  A  hard-headed  farmer  was 
vexed  at  the  theories  which  his  boy  was  proclaiming  on  his 
return  from  college,  and  with  which  he  was  perplexing  his 
sisters.     According  to  the  boy's  view,  mind  could  not  know 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE.  5 

matter;  tlie  world  had  no  existence  apart  from  man's  thought. 
Said  the  father,  bluntly,  "You  butt  your  head  against  the 
cellar  door,  and  then  tell  us  whether  you  do  not  know  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  matter."  The  father  not  only  shut  the 
mouth  of  the  boy,  but  did  it  according  to  principles  of 
sound  philosophy.  Of  course,  there  are  forms  of  idealism 
which  by  subdividing  the  absurdity,  or  carrying  it  farther 
into  the  abstruse,  seem  to  lessen  or  avoid  it.  No  philoso- 
phy commends  itself  by  denying  or  satirizing,  instead  of 
translating  and  vindicating,  our  primary  apprehensions.  The 
hard  facts  of  life  have  driven  idealism,  except  in  its  more 
refined  forms,  from  the  field;  and  realism — the  doctrine  that 
man  can  and  does  know  the  external  world — is  now  accepted,  if 
not  in  words  at  least  in  effect,  by  almost  all  schools  of  thought. 
Yet  in  things  spiritual  and  religious,  the  influence  of  idealism 
still  lingers.  In  this  sphere  there  is  no  literal  cellar  door 
against  which  men  may  butt  out  their  brains,  or  rather  their 
perverse  way  of  thinking.  Yet  since  man  is  a  moral  being, 
this  must  continue  to  be  the  case.  But  it  is  our  duty  to  so 
develop  and  present  sound  theory  that  no  one  will  err  except 
by  his  own  most  glaring  fault. 
We  hear  much  to-day  about 

AGNOSTICISM, 

a  sort  of  moral  know-nothingism.  Its  advocates  and  votaries 
deny  the  possibility  of  knowing  God,  the  facts  of  another  life, 
and  Christian  elements  in  general.  Most  of  them  admit  the 
fact  of  knowledge  in  the  things  of  this  world.  Yet  it  has  been 
convincingly  shown  that  the  grounds  alleged  against  knowledge 
of  spiritual  realities  would  be  subversive  of  all  knowledge,  and 
would  lead  to  absolute  and  universal  agnosticism;  and  that 
the  grounds  on  which  a  knowledge  of  worldly  realities  rests, 
equally  warrant  confidence  in  spiritual  realities.  Partial  agnos- 
ticism and  partial  skepticism  end  in  universal  agnosticism  and 
universal  skepticism, — in  other  words,  in  contradiction  and 
absurdity. 


6  FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE, 

A  true  theory  of  knowledge  will  take  notice  of  the  whole 
man  and  the  whole  universe,  will  support  all  of  the  interests  of 
time  and  eternity  alike,  and  will  do  justice  to  the  dignity  of 
man  and  the  character  of  God.  In  knowing  there  must  be  a 
knowing  mind  and  objects  to  be  knowji.  The  objects  to  be 
known  are  self,  the  world,  and  God.  These  have  an  existence 
apart  from  the  mind's  act  in  knowing.  Knowledge  is  the 
intellectual  cognition  of  them. 

Knowledge  and  faith  are  often 

UNWISELY   DISTINGUISHED 

and  unwarrantably  put  at  variance.  What  is  one  and  what  the 
other?  Which  comes  first?  Do  they  differ  as  to  certainty? 
Does  one  pertain  to  one  class  of  truth  and  the  other  to  another? 
Anselm  said,  "Believe  in  order  that  you  may  know."  This 
order,  with  a  slight  explanation  as  to  meaning,  is  to-day 
regarded  as  correct.  Abelard  said,  "Know  in  order  that  yoij 
may  believe."  Under  belief  he,  as  also  Augustine  before  him, 
had  in  mind  the  authority  of  the  church  in  requiring  belief. 
With  this  reference  he  was  right,  though  Augustine  seems  to 
countenance  the  opposite  view.  Bernard  said  in  effect,  "Love 
in  order  that  you  may  know."  Here  he  recognizes  the  fact, 
without  making  any  distinction  between  faith  and  knowledge, 
that  the  condition  of  the  heart  is  of  primary  importance  in 
reaching  moral  truth. 

The  philosopher  Kant  found  a  basis  for  knowledge  in  gen- 
eral in  what  he  called  the  pure  reason,  though  even  here  his 
principles  were  skeptical,  his  distinction  as  to  things  in  them- 
selves and  phenomena  and  as  to  absolute  and  relative  knowl- 
edge making  knowledge  itself  impossible.  For  morals  and 
religion  he  was  compelled  to  improvise  a  distinct  foundation 
in  the  dictates  of  what  he  called  the  practical  reason.  Now 
religion  scorns  this  special  help,  and  disdains  this  patronizing 
regard.  Taking  the  hint  from  Kant,  many  would-be  philoso- 
phers of  our  times  deny  to  religion  all  scientific  ground,  but 
admit  that  there  is  in  man  a  feeling  or  a  susceptibility  to  faith 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE.  7 

which  is  the  legitimate  ground  for  religion.  If  religion  is  thus 
kept  on  a  distinct  ground  apart  from  strict  intellectual  and 
scientific  features,  they  consolingly  allege  that  no  harm  can 
come  to  religion,  no  matter  what  advances  are  made,  or 
what  systems  go  up  or  down.  Religion  does  not  want 
immunity  at  such  a  cost, — at  the  cost  of  its  character  and 
just  foundations.  It  asks  to  stand  or  fall  with  the  whole 
fabric  of  knowledge.  Without  rancor  and  without  vengeful- 
ness  at  the  attempt  to  exclude  it  from  the  solid  ground  on 
which  knowledge  rests,  it  solemnly  declares  the  fact  that  if 
removed  its  roots  carry  away  the  soil  out  of  which  all  certainty 
must  spring. 

But  guided  also  by  the  distinction  made  by  Kant,  some 
theologiaUs  have  endeavored  to  point  out  a  special  faith- 
faculty,  or  have  sought  to  ground  everything  in  Christian 
consciousness.  It  is  a  sorry  thing  if  Christianity  must  resort 
to  this  shift  to  save  itself  from  criticism  and  destruction. 
Schleiermacher  introduced  this  tendency,  and  since  his  time 
others,  setting  out  from  this  new  source,  have  sought  to 
develop  faith  into  knowledge,  or  to  bring  it  into  union  with 
historical  Christianity.  These  well  meant  efforts  do  not  serve 
well  their  purpose.  Some  leading  German  theologians  of 
the  present  time  are  trying  to  effect  a  complete  separation 
of  theology  from  philosophy.  Now  philosophy  is  not  a  thing 
in  itself,  from  which  we  can  separate  all  subject  matter. 
It  is  the  mind's  proposed  explanation  of  things, — especially 
of  things  not  yet  fully  mastered.  If  we  have  confidence 
in  Christianity,  we  must  believe  that  it  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  all  that  is  true ;  that  it  is  confirmed,  inter- 
preted, and  applied  like  other  realities.  The  distinguishing 
difference  between  religious  science  and  science  in  general 
is  in  the  classes  of  reality  to  which  the  same  powers  of  the 
soul  are  directed.     Christianity  asks  no  special  favors. 

Fundamentally,  both  in  strict  and  popular  usage. 


8  FAITH  AND  KNOWLEDGE. 

FAITH  AND  KNOWLEDGE  ARE  THE  SAME. 

As  Dr.  McCosli  repeatedly  says,  the  soul  begins  its  career 
with  knowledge.  If  it  did  not  have  knowledge  at  the  begin- 
ning, by  no  alchemy  could  it  be  produced  from  other  materi- 
als. Through  sense-perception  and  self -consciousness  the  soul 
comes  to  be  possessed  of  innumerable  and  widely  diversified 
perceptions  of  concrete  and  individual  realities.  In  connec- 
tion with  experience,  but  supplied  from  the  mind  rather  than 
derived  from  without,  necessary  and  uniform  ideas  or  forms  of 
thought  are  provided.  All  these  materials  are  held  as  knowl- 
edge ;  they  are  certain,  they  cannot  be  disputed.  But  what 
are  they?  They  are  individual  manifestations,  or  forms  of 
thought  connected  with  the  perception  of  individual  examples. 
Different  elements  are  included  together  without  discrimina- 
tion. The  necessary  and  the  contingent  are  not  distinguished. 
The  whole  exists  as  a  nebulous  mass  without  distinctions  or 
classification  or  definition,  constituting  the  sum  of  our  spon- 
taneous knowledge.  It  has  the  quality  of  knowledge ;  yet 
to  distinguish  this  primitive  material,  back  of  which  the 
soul  cannot  go,  from  the  reasoned,  classified,  and  defined 
knowledge  derived  from  it,  the  former  may  suitably  be  termed 
faith  and  the  latter  knowledge.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
latter  is  more  certain;  for  how  can  a  stream  be  purer  or 
rise  higher  than  its  source?  The  use  of  the  different  terms 
is  for  convenience,  and  it  is  in  accord  with  common  usage. 
When  we  resolve  something  into  something  previously  ac- 
cepted, we  are  inclined  to  say.  We  know ;  but  when  we  must 
accept  something  for  which  we  are  unable  to  give  antecedents 
other  than  the  authority  of  the  mind  itself,  we  say,  in  defer- 
ence. We  believe.  The  only  objection  to  this  is  that  superficial 
thought  may  understand  that  we  intend  to  express  a  lower 
certainty,  or  something  other  than  certainty.  Here  we  see  at 
once  the  wealth  of  material  that  is  the  possession  of  the  whole 
race.  We  do  not  need  to  make  invidious  distinctions.  We 
may  notice  also,  with  Aristotle  and  many  other  writers,  that 
what  common  men,  without  any  theory  to  defend  or  to  combat. 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE.  9 

have  incorporated  in  language,  is  well  worthy  our  study.  But 
we  can  not,  dare  not,  stop  here.  Even  the  humblest  and  least 
pretending  must  make  some  advance  beyond,  this.  Scientific 
verification,  the  unifying  of  thought,  the  burden  of  our  prac- 
tical interests,  require  that  we  go  forward.  Unrest,  personal 
doubt,  the  attact  of  foes,  leave  us  no  alternative.  This  starting 
with  accredited  beginnings,  this  maturing  of  our  thought,  the 
discrimination  of  its  content,  the  grasping  of  its  logical  and 
practical  force,  all  this  belongs  as  much  to  religion  as  to 
other  matters.  Man,  as  rational,  must  also,  at  least  in  theory, 
be  religious. 

Among  the  various  senses  for  the  term  faith,  in  addition 
to  that  just  given,  there  is  one  that  especially  deserves  men- 
tion. It  is  that  which  makes  faith  to  be  the  knowledge  which 
man,  belonging  both  to  the  natural  and  supernatural  realms, 
has  of  the  supernatural,  the  natural  realm  in  contrast  being 
assigned  to  reason.  But  any  distinctions  are  to  be  deplored 
which  prevent  knowledge  and  reason  from  being  recognized 
and  carried  throughout  both  realms.  Eeason  and  knowledge 
nullify  themselves  by  halting  at  new  subject  matter. 

With  this  general  statement  of  the  character  of  faith  and 
knowledge  and  their  relation  to  each  other,  we  may  proceed  to 
notice  more  particularly  the  sources  of  knowledge  and  the 
ground  for  religion. 

THE    INTUITIONAL   BASIS. 

It  is  quite  customary,  when  the  ground  is  demanded  for 
anything  which  we  believe,  but  for  which  we  cannot  give  a 
ready  account,  for  us  to  say  that  the  belief  is  intuitional  or 
self-evident.  At  the  same  time,  much  is  said  in  favor  of  ex- 
perience, as  though  experience  depended  on  nothing.  Some 
have  much  to  say  against  a  priori  procedure,  as  though  intelli- 
gence could  have  its  beginning  in  some  other  way  or  had  no 
need  of  a  beginning.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  for  science  and 
religion  alike,  we  are  obliged  to  assume  the  validity  of  certain 
fundamental  ideas,  forms  of  thought,  and  mental  processes  and 


10  FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE. 

products.  These  elements  have  been  referred  to  under  the 
common  designation  faiih.  Some  most  important  truths  may 
have  their  origin  too  deep  in  the  human  mind  or  too  far  back 
in  the  twilight  of  its  history,  to  be  detected  and  exhibited  apart 
from  other  elements  with  which  they  have  entered  into  combi- 
nation. We  should  not  make  our  success  in  distinguishing 
them  the  condition  of  our  accepting  them  in  the  form  in  which 
they  do  appear.  The  fact  of  their  diffusion  should  be  in  their 
favor. 

Consciousness  furnishes  the  starting  point  for  all  of  our 
direct  endeavors,  on  the  basis  of  which  we  may  notice,  in  the 

first  place, 

SENSE-PEKCEPTION. 

Afterward  we  may  notice  the  cognition  of  other  than  sense- 
objects.  While  it  is  not  designed  to  treat  spiritual  knowledge 
first,  it  yet  comes  in  first  and  as  the  basis  of  sense-perception, 
even  though  sense-objects  should  be  the  occasion  for  its 
awakening.  Consciousness  knows  self  as  subject  in  all  per- 
ception. In  the  knowledge  of  self  we  have  the  bridge  that 
leads  to  the  objective  world,  both  of  matter  and  spirit.  In  a 
similar  way,  if  not  by  additional  steps  in  the  same  course,  the 
mind  knows  the  sensorium  as  affected  and  then  the  world 
external  to  the  body.  The  soul  has  knowledge  of  itself  through 
the  activity  of  the  soul,  knows  the  affection  of  the  sensorium 
as  acting  upon  itself,  and  knows  the  outer  world  through 
affections  originating  in  the  same.  In  a  sense  there  is  in  each 
case  a  medium.  In  another  sense  the  soul  by  an  inexplicable 
act  affirms  the  reality  of  that  which  is  made  to  stand  in  its 
immediate  presence.  The  object  and  the  medium,  so  to  speak, ' 
are  comprehended  in  one  indivisible  act.  The  fact  that  sub- 
jective elements  may  not  be  in  kind  like  the  outward  object 
does  not  invalidate  knowledge;  for  knowledge  must  be  under- 
stood to  be  simply  the  intellectual  equivalent.  For  our  present 
purpose  it  is  not  important  what  our  notion  of  matter  may  be, 
or  what  kind  of  influence  is  implied  in  the  action  of  matter  on 
mind  or  of  mind  on  matter.     Of  greater  importance  to  us  is  the 


FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE,  11 

objection  that  in  perception  we  are  often  deceived.  This 
makes  it  necessary  for  ns  to  distinguish  carefully  perception 
proper  from  inference.  The  fact,  however,  that  we  can  detect 
errors,  that  dreams  may  be  known  to  be  jfictions,  is  an  unassail- 
able argument  in  favor  of  truth  and  knowledge.  Thus  in  sense- 
perception  the  soul  actually  knows  objects  as  such,  and  having 
reached  in  regard  to  the  external  world  the  quality  or  estate  of 
knowledge,  quantities  of  such  knowledge  are  of  little  import- 
ance in  comparison  with  this  attainment.  Yet  the  fact  is  that 
through  sense-perception  the  mind  acquires  a  vast  amount  of 
knowledge.  In  its  spontaneous  and  individual  form  we  call  it 
faith  or  the  product  of  faith. 
We  may  now  turn  to  the 

COGNITION   OF   OTHER   THAN   SENSE-OBJECTS. 

As  fundamental  to  sense-perception,  as  already  stated,  the 
mind  in  consciousness  has  knowledge  of  itself.  By  a  direct, 
inexplicable  act  the  mind  knows  its  own  states  and  acts. 
What  is  afforded  by  reflection  on  these  will  be  noticed  under 
rational  intuitions.  At  this  point  we  may  ask  whether  the 
soul  may  through  spiritual  perception  know  spiritual  beings 
like  unto  itself.  In  such  a  case  a  knowledge  of  personality 
through  a  knowledge  of  self  would  be  a  primary  necessity, 
and  the  knowledge  of  any  other  person  would  be  to  that 
extent  secondary.  Yet  as  a  knowledge  of  self  is  through 
the  activities  of  self,  so  the  knowledge  of  another  self  may 
be  by  affections  of  which  the  other  self  is  the  necessary 
condition.  In  a  way  similar  to  the  way  in  which  we  know 
self  or  the  external  world,  may  we  not  perceive  spiritual 
beings?  If  by  perception  is  meant  mental  certainty  of  an 
object  through  the  representation  or  affection  by  which  the 
object  is  made  to  stand  before  us,  then  the  mind  may  per- 
ceive persons, — not  bodily  shapes,  but  spiritual  beings, — not 
know  something  of  them,  but  know  themselves.  To  know 
them  does  not  mean  to  know  all  about  them.  We  know 
men   as   capable   of    contingent   and  contradictory   acts,   and 


12  FAITH   AND    KNOWLEDGE. 

know  therefore  that  deception  is  possible.  Yet  the  person 
we  may  know.  In  like  manner,  by  spiritual  perception  or 
experience,  may  not  God  be  known, — not  in  all  that  he  is, 
nor  yet  simply  that  he  is?  We  already  know  personality 
in  the  knowledge  of  ourselves.  The  only  additional  condition 
is  that  God  be  able  to  produce  those  affections  by  which  he 
shall  be  recognized.  That  he  was  able  to  form  the  human 
mind  with  this  reference,  and  that  he  is  able  thus  to  reveal 
himself,  cannot  be  questioned.  Beyond  these  suggestions  I 
will  not  attempt  to  show  that  this  possibility  is  realized.  I  beg 
leave,  however,  to  quote  the  opinions  of  some  men  eminent 
as  investigators  and  thinkers.  Hermann  Lotze  puts  forward 
the  following  hypothesis,  which  he  approves  as  far  as  the 
analogy  to  sense-perception  is  concerned:  "Now  it  might 
be  asserted  that  it  is  not  the  external  world  exclusively 
which  furnishes  these  necessary  data  by  influence  of  our 
senses.  Rather  it  is  quite  as  admissible  to  think  of  a  divine 
or  supersensible  influence  upon  our  interior  being  by  means 
of  which  'intuitions'  of  another  species  fall  to  our  lot,  such 
as  the  senses  can  never  supply,  and  such  as  constitute  just 
that  religious  cognition  which  obtrudes  itself  upon  us  with 
immediate  certainty."^ 

Dr.  George  P.  Fisher  says:  "There  are  perceptions  of 
the  spirit  as  well  as  of  sense.  The  being  whom  we  call  God 
may  in  like  manner  come  in  contact  with  the  soul.  As  the  soul 
on  the  basis  of  sensations  posits  the  outer  world  of  sense,  so 
on  the  basis  of  analogous  inward  experiences  it  posits  God. 
The  inward  feelings,  yearnings,  aspirations,  which  are  the 
ground  of  the  spiritual  perception,  are  not  continuous,  as  in  the 
perceptions  of  matter;  they  vary  in  liveliness;  they  are  contin- 
gent in  a  remarkable  degree  on  character.  Hence,  religious 
faith  has  not  the  clearness,  the  uniform  and  abiding  character, 
which  belong  to  our  recognition  of  outward  things."  ^ 

Professor  Borden  P.  Bowne,  representing  a  different  school 

'  "  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  p.  4. 

"  "  Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian  Belief,"  p.  26. 


FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  13 

of  thought,  says:  "On  the  basis  of  certain  impressions  we 
posit  material  objects.  On  the  basis  of  other  impressions  we 
posit  spirits  like  our  own.  On  the  basis  of  its  total  mental 
and  moral  experience  the  race  has  posited  God.  This  general 
conviction  in  a  divine  existence  we  regard  as  less  an  inference 
than  a  perception.  This  is  shown  by  the  history  of  the  belief, 
which  is  older  than  reflection  and  speculation."  ^ 

Dr.  Samuel  Harris,  whose  valuable  writings  have  been 
largely  devoted  to  this  subject,  says:  "As  through  the  impres- 
sions of  sense  we  perceive  our  physical  environment,  so  through 
rational  and  spiritual  principles,  sentiments,  and  susceptibili- 
ties we  perceive  our  spiritual  environment,  the  universal  and 
all-illuminating  Keason,  the  absolute  Spirit,  and  the  system  of 
personal  and  spiritual  beings  related  to  him.  Man  is  conscious 
of  God  in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  in  which  he  is  conscious 
of  the  outward  world."  ^  Professor  H.  B.  Smith  characterizes 
the  view  that  God  is  known  in  perceptive  intuition  as  mystical. 
Yet,  may  it  not  be  that  the  rational  intuitions,  always  present 
even  in  sense-perceptions,  are  only  more  prominent  in  cogniz- 
ing God  than  in  other  cognition? 

Assuming  this  position  to  be  true,  its  advantages  are  obvi- 
ous. Theology  becomes  something  more  than  an  abstract 
science.  It  has  all  of  the  naturalness,  interest,  and  rewards  of 
a  concrete  science.  It  is  evident  further  that  if  the  soul  by  its 
nature  has  this  knowledge  of  God,  it  must  also  have  a  wide 
capacity  of  insight  and  test  as  to  spiritual  truth.  I  know  the 
danger  there  is  in  this  affirmation.  But  as  I  have  often  said 
to  my  classes,  "Peril  is  no  disproof."  Moral  probation  involves 
peril.  It  is  the  abuse  of  the  capacity  and  prerogative  above 
referred  to,  that  is  to  be  reprobated.  To  admit  the  facts  in  the 
case  is  to  inspire  caution  and  to  point  the  way  to  the  highest 
achievements.  If  an  appeal  must  be  made  from  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  human  mind,  the  case  would  scarcely  be  improved 
by  appealing  to  God,  its  author.     The  faculty  by  which  men  in 

'  "Studies  in  Theism,"  p.  79. 

»  "  Self-Rove]  ation  of  God,"  p.  39. 


14  FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE. 

general  become  cognizant  of  religious  truth  is  known  as  reli- 
gious consciousness.  The  same  faculty  as  rectified  and  en- 
lightened by  regeneration  and  the  Christian  revelation,  is 
known  as  Christian  consciousness. 

Passing  from   the   subject  of  primary  cognition  through 
sense-perception  and  self-consciousness,  we  may  notice  the 

RATIONAL   INTUITIONS, 

which  furnish  the  principles  and  conditions  according  to  which 
our  spontaneous  beliefs  and  apprehensions  are  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  knowledge  in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  distin- 
guished from  faith.  Without  unnecessary  delay  I  may  name 
the  classes  of  rational  intuitions  as  given  by  Dr.  Harris,  many 
of  whose  positions  are  repeated  and  emphasized,  I  hope  not 
servilely,  in  this  address.  He  gives  the  irue,  the  right,  the  per- 
fect, the  good,  and  the  absolute  as  constituting  these  classes. 
The  rational  intuitions  are  forms  of  conception  or  thought 
back  of  our  spontaneous  knowledge,  or  involved  in  it,  making 
such  knowledge  possible.  But  in  reflective  consciousness  they 
are  apprehended  as  definite  ideas  or  judgments  according  to 
which  our  original  knowledge  is  verified,  systematized,  and 
unified.  In  other  words,  they  are  the  ground  and  essence  of. 
reason.  The  existence  of  intuitive  truth  in  this  sense  does  not 
imply  that  everyone  consciously  possesses  it,  or  is  even  ready 
or  compelled  to  accept  it  when  definitely  presented;  but  that 
everyone  must  and  does  use  it  when  the  subjects  involved  are 
suitable.  As  intuitive,  it  lies  at  the  beginning  and  at  the 
foundation  of  knowledge,  but  as  a  distinct  and  evident  posses- 
sion, generalized  from  a  wide  number  of  the  acts  of  the  soul,  it 
is  among  our  latest  and  highest  acquisitions.  The  reason  is 
therefore  evident  why  men  can  so  lightly  deny  the  highest  and 
most  evident  truth.  Even  in  their  denials  they  must  make 
use  of  the  truth  denied.  Feeble  thinking  or  a  wayward  temper 
may  cause  thought  to  be  so  imperfect  or  distorted  that  the 
needed  materials  and  conditions  are  wanting;  or  the  absence 
of   reflection  may  leave   the  best  of  materials  unused.     The 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE.  15 

difficulty  is  not  so  much  that  men  think  erroneously  as  that 
they  do  not  think  at  all,  or  think  without  suitable  energy  or 
purpose.  Mere  stupidity  can  withstand  the  clearest  argument. 
Herein  is  shown  the  dignity  and  the  degradation  of  man. 
Fidelity  to  the  intuitions  and  to  the  laws  of  the  mind  will  lead 
to  the  firm  possession  of  the  loftiest  truths,  but  recreancy  and 
inaction  will  leave  us  in  the  mire  of  imbecility,  contradiction, 
and  spiritual  wretchedness.  This  is  only  another  way  of  say- 
ing that  we  are  moral  beings  and  that  we  are  on  probation  as 
to  the  use  of  our  intellects  as  well  as  to  our  conduct.  If  men 
are  waiting  for  cumpulsion  on  this  line,  they  will  wait  in  vain. 
Beginning  then  with  the  primitive  knowledge  of  the  mind, — 
call  it  faith  if  you  will, — there  are  through  the  rational  intuitions 
the  most  valid  ground  and  method  for  a  scientific  knowledge  of 
the  universe, — a  cosmos  instead  of  a  chaos,  a  sound  psychology 
giving  a  proper  knowledge  of  self,  and  a  scientific  theology. 

But  if  a  knowledge  of  God  is  given  in  intuition, — in  self- 
consciousness,  and  with  verification  through  the  rational  intu- 
itions,— what  place  can  there  be  for  the  various 

ARGUMENTS   FOR   THE   EXISTENCE   OP   GOD, 

such  as  the  ontological,  cosmological,  teleological,  and  moral? 
Strictly  speaking  there  is  no  place  for  them  as  independent 
arguments.  They  are  but  different  means  by  which  the  mind 
reenforces  itself  in  intuitive  truth.  As  the  mind  resurveys 
the  different  fields  of  being  with  reflection  fully  awake,  the 
content  of  our  thought  becomes  more  luminous,  and  inference 
is  less  embarrassed.  The  conditions  are  supplied  for  the  ready 
and  successful  exercise  of  the  soul  both  in  perceptive  and 
reflective  intuition.  It  is  not  intended  to  deny  the  usefulness, 
in  one  form  or  another,  of  these  so-called  arguments;  only, 
strictly  speaking,  they  are  not  original  or  independent  argu- 
ments, and  they  go  rather  to  show  what  God  is  than  that  he  is. 
Lotze  says:  "These  proofs,  like  all  investigations  which 
strive  to  go  back  from  results  to  their  causes,  are  only  intended 
to  mediate  our  knowledge  of  the  principle  by  those  of  its 


16  FAITH   AND    KNOWLEDGE. 

consequences  which  are  given,  and  with  this  view  they  presup- 
pose the  absolute  validity  of  a  truth  which  knits  all  the  world 
together."^  Furthermore,  may  not  God  by  his  immanence  in 
the  universe  use  the  universe  to  produce  in  the  soul  those 
affections  whereby  he  shall  be  recognized?  Also  may  not  the 
attention  of  the  mind  continuously  given  in  reflection  to  the 
same  line  of  fact,  conduce  to  the  desired  clearness  and  strength 
of  conviction  as  to  the  existence  and  character  of  God? 
We  now  come  to 

HISTOKICAL   CHRISTIANITY. 

Christianity  as  being  the  highest  and  fullest  expression  of 
religious  truth,  and  as  being  from  the  Author  of  nature,  is 
naturally  made  to  include,  as  a  part  of  itself,  the  foundations 
and  beginnings  revealed  by  the  light  of  nature.  Usually,  any 
system  may  be  best  understood  from  the  standpoint  of  its  own 
highest  expression.  Thus  much  tedious  and  uncertain  investi- 
gation becomes  unnecessary,  and  the  truth  as  finally  held 
stands  out  in  its  greatest  simplicity  and  power.  But  the  con- 
ditions of  our  age  are  such  that  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
religion  must  be  examined  and  verified  with  the  greatest 
thoroughness  possible  in  the  light  of  nature.  Christian 
thought  must  parallel  and  coordinate  the  legitimate  advances 
in  other  departments,  and  show  that  all  truth  supports  the  re- 
ligious interest  of  man.  In  certain  junctures,  a  method  not 
ideally  the  best,  or  even  disproportionate  attention  to  one  side 
of  things,  may  best  meet  prevailing  conditions  and  wants. 
B-arely  can  men  safely  be  relieved  of  the  most  strenuous  exer- 
cise of  which  their  faculties  are  capable.  Christ  himself,  with 
the  events  leading  to  him  and  those  flowing  from  him,  consti- 
tutes the  substance  of  the  new  revelation  of  God.  Herein  is 
furnished  a  new  occasion  for  the  use  of  the  word  faith,  applied 
in  this  instance  to  the  acceptance  on  testimony  of  a  divine 
communication  to  man.  While  the  contents  of  that  communi- 
cation may  not,  in  their  entirety,  certify  themselves  directly  to 

'  Microcosmus,  p.  663. 


FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE.  17 

the  mind,  they  may,  nevertheless,  be  called  knowledge,  as  wit- 
nessed by  the  fact  that  in  all  of  the  sciences  and  spheres  of 
life  the  term  is  thus  applied.  We  are  so  constituted  as  to 
form  a  necessary  conviction  of  truth  by  this  method.  In  many 
cases  the  testimony  is  less  than  conclusive,  but  certainty  in 
proportion  to  the  evidence  still  remains.  The  evidence  itself 
is  understood  to  have  for  its  basis  natural  intuitions.  That  is, 
men  witness  with  the  senses  the  authenticating  marks  of  some 
fact  or  truth  which  has  not  been  brought  within  their  range,  or 
the  full  content  of  which  lacks  the  quality  of  self -evidence.  Re- 
flection judges  as  to  the  sufficiency  or  competency  of  the  evi- 
dence, and  gives  corresponding  credit  to  what  is  thus  vouched 
for.  The  word  faith  seems  to  be  used  because  as  to  the  facts 
handed  down  and  the  things  vouched  for,  we  have  no  means 
within  ourselves  of  verification.  To  bring  the  evidence  down 
to  us  and  to  give  it  credit,  there  must  be  a  compliance  with  the 
usual  requirements  of  history  and  the  approved  laws  of  evi- 
dence. If  all  this  is  satisfactory,  we  cannot  refuse  to  accept 
the  revelation,  except  by  a  disuse  or  denial  of  rationality.  In 
religion,  the  Holy  Scriptures  furnish  faith  with  the  crowning 
facts  and  truths,  miracles  and  prophecy,  which  are  a  part  of 
the  historical  contents,  furnishing  their  own  peculiar  sanctions. 
The  great  advantage  of  Christianity — being  likewise  its  great 
characteristic — is  its  historic  character  and  authoritative  utter- 
ances as  given  in  the  inspired  record.  It  thus  becomes  possi- 
ble as  the  religion  for  all  men.  It  may  be  identified  and 
vindicated.  3Iuch  in  its  substance  is  identical  with  what  the 
natural  reason  has  reached.  Nothing  in  it  is  essentially  con- 
tradictory to  what  reason  declares.  Thus  the  authentication 
of  what  is  above  reason  is  rationally  reached.  That  Christian- 
ity examined  on  its  merits  meets  the  requirements,  is  confi- 
dently claimed.  Beginning  with  the  material  of  Christianity 
under  the  name  of  faith,  though  holding  firmly  to  its  character 
as  knowledge,  we  may  go  forward  to  build  up  a  most  imposing 
system  of  verified  knowledge,  properly  thus  designated.  Here 
again  the  human  intellect  is  put  upon  probation,  and  in  this 


18  FAITH   AND   KNOWLEDGE. 

case  the  possibility  of  recreancy  and  skepticism  is  doubled,  in- 
asmuch as  that  to  be  believed  and  the  evidence  are  not  one  and 
the  same  thing.  Yet  congruity  with  intuitive  standards  as 
far  as  they  go,  the  bringing  of  the  vouchers  under  the  senses 
of  men,  and  the  historic  character  of  Christianity  in  general, 
will  lead  earnest  inquirers  to  accept  the  truth  of  Christianity  as 
presented  in  its  original  standards,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which 
thus  becomes  a  mine  of  unfailing  wealth.  Courage,  fidelity, 
and  effort,  the  sifting  of  evidence,  and  the  pressing  of  things  to 
their  proper  conclusions,  even  though  probabilities  may  be 
closely  balanced,  are  necessary  at  every  point.  No  wonder  so 
many  persons  are  found  wanting  when  put  to  such  a  test.  The 
principles  on  which  unbelievers  reject  the  Scriptures,  would,  if 
carried  out,  lead  to  universal  skepticism.  And  on  the  other 
side,  clear  views  as  to  the  foundation  of  knowledge  in  general, 
afford  a  sure  ground  for  accepting  the  oracles  of  Christianity. 
Thus  far  nothing  has  been  claimed  for  Christianity  outside  of 
what  may  be  examined  and  pronounced  upon  by  all  men,  and 
no  principles  have  been  applied  different  from  those  that  are 
constantly  applied  in  the  various  sciences.  In  interpreting  the 
contents  of  revelation,  even  man's  natural  reason  would  say,  if 
the  evidence  shows  that  it  is  indeed  a  revelation  from  God, 
that  it  is  to  be  interpreted  as  a  revelation  coming  from  a 
higher  source  and  presumably  containing  much  that  is  above 
our  natural  reason.  The  great  complaint  made  by  Christianity 
against  its  opposers,  is  that  they  do  not  think  at  all,  or  that 
they  apply  principles  in  regard  to  Christianity  that  they  would 
shrink  from  employing  elsewhere. 

It  might  seem  that  the  subject  of  knowledge  would  be  cov- 
ered by  the  twofold  reference  to  intuition  and  to  an  objective 
revelation.  And  so  it  would,  if  no  calamity  had  come  to  man's 
moral  constitution.  Perhaps,  also,  to  an  unvitiated  constitu- 
tion, much  that  revelation  gives  would  have  been  intuitively 
manifest.  Man's  perceptive  power  has  to  be  reawakened,  and 
he  must  read  the  universe  in  the  light  of  the 


FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  19 

NEW   CREATION 

as  well  as  in  the  light  of  the  old.  The  word  faiih  is  used  as 
denoting  the  act  by  which  a  person  enters  upon  Christian  life. 
It  is  frequently  called  trust.  It  raises  to  special  prominence 
the  exercise  of  the  will,  though  the  exercise  of  the  will  is  not 
apart  from  faith  or  knowledge  as  already  described.  Faith  or 
knowledge  in  the  general  or  fundamental  sense,  and  faith  or 
knowledge  as  to  what  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  are  implied 
as  a  ground  for  trust.  Trust  consists  in,  or  rests  upon,  our 
knowledge  of  a  person.  "We  behold  God  in  Christ  in  his  love, 
manifesting  in  his  countenance  the  reconciliation  brought 
about  by  the  obedience  and  sacrificial  death  of  Christ.  In 
salvation  we  have  a  fuller,  a  more  realistic  view  of  God  than 
ever  before.  Never  before  has  our  consciousness  of  self  been 
brought  out  in  such  pronounced  form.  We  rest,  or  walk  out, 
upon  such  manifestation  of  character  and  such  assurance  of 
reconciliation.  No  wonder  Spurgeon  could  sum  up  his  experi- 
ence in  these  words:  "I  beheld  him,  and  he  looked  on  me,  and 
we  were  one  for  evermore."  Man's  will  appears  in  his  readi- 
ness or  effort  to  come  to  this  living  acquaintance  with  God,  or 
in  his  suiting  his  actions  to  his  new  realm.  The  necessary 
elements  of  will  being  taken  for  granted,  it  is  the  faith  that  sees 
Christ,  or  knows  God  as  revealed  in  Christ,  that  furnishes  the 
channel  of  salvation.  Those  inquiring  the  way  of  life  are  often 
so  directed  that  faith,  or  their  own  state,  is  made  the  object. 
Wise  direction  will  take  away  every  barrier  between  their 
vision  and  God.  The  act  by  which  this  acquaintance  with 
God  is  reached,  as  being  at  the  beginning  of  man's  acquisitions 
as  a  new  creature  in  Christ,  along  with  all  new  perceptions 
of  spiritual  truth,  is  called  faith,  though  just  as  in  the  former 
cases  it  is  of  the  character  of  knowledge.  Usually,  however, 
the  term  knoivledge  is  reserved  for  the  development  and 
accurate  setting  forth  of  this  new  consciousness,  and  the  firm 
relationship  established  between  this  consciousness  and  the 
consciousness  of  man  as  belonging  to  the  first  creation.     The 


20  FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE. 

knowledge  of  God  in  conversion  implies  the  natural  capacity 
for  cognizing  God  already  noticed,  or  the  religious  conscious- 
ness belonging  to  the  race;  but  now  that  it  is  renewed  and 
faces  God  in  new  manifestations,  it  is  known  as  Christian 
consciousness.  The  divine  Spirit  may  make  himself  known 
through  representations  in  nature  or  in  revelation.  When 
the  conditions  are  supplied  that  bring  God  before  the  mind,  or 
that  turn  the  eye  of  the  mind  to  God,  by  virtue  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  mind  there  springs  up  mental  certainty.  We  call 
the  act,  or  perhaps  the  product,  faith,  and  upon  this  foundation 
we  erect  the  golden  temple  of  experimental  knowledge.  The 
Scriptures  continually  require  that  we  go  forward  to  knowledge^ 
or  go  forward  in  knowledge.  The  doctrine  that  our  assurance 
of  salvation  rests  on  a  knowledge  of  God  is  not  new  to  a 
United  Brethren  audience,  or  to  the  Christian  church  in 
general.  But  its  recovery  from  comparative  neglect  and  its 
scientific  enunciation  and  philosophic  vindication,  along  with 
its  attendant  elements,  furnish  the  storm-center  for  the  greatest 
theological  commotions  of  our  century.  Through  extravagance, 
with  rapid  change  from  one  extreme  to  another,  through  capri- 
cious and  subversive  forms,  the  struggle  has  gone  forward  until 
a  new  interest  has  been  created  in  theology,  with  the  beginning 
of  a  new  clarification  of  thought.  The  great  thinkers  and  the 
great  schools  of  our  land  are  foremost  in  proclaiming  this 
direct  knowledge  of  God  by  the  Christian  believer,  and  the  nec- 
essary presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  order  to  normal  or  ade- 
quate consciousness.  The  tendency  of  to-day  in  more  than  one 
department  of  knowledge  is  to  put  judgment  in  the  place  of 
syllogism,  and  perception  in  the  place  of  judgment,  in  many 
cases  in  which  formerly  the  opposite  course  was  rigidly 
pursued.  As  has  been  indicated,  there  is  great  danger  in 
connection  with  the  doctrine  of  religious  or  Christian  con- 
sciousness. While  we  cannot  wholly  avoid  danger,  we  should 
not  meet  it  with  levity  or  presumption.  Some  make  Christian 
consciousness  a  mere  sentimental  something.  Others  make 
doubtful  inferences  or  elements  dimly  seen  more  important 


FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  21 

than  the  explicit  teaching  of  revelation.  It  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  our  consciousness  depends  on  the  objects  brought 
before  the  mind  in  nature  and  in  revelation  alike,  and  is  not 
therefore  an  independent  source  of  knowledge.  As  regards  the 
capacity  of  different  men  or  different  classes  of  men  for  Chris- 
tian faith,  for  knowledge  of  God  unto  salvation,  there  is  no 
essential  difference.  We  therefore  repudiate  the  implication 
that  religious  knowledge  is  for  any  particular  class  of  men. 
Why  then  do  not  all  have  a  saving  knowledge  of  God?  Simply 
because  they  will  not  receive  the  truth.  God  is  the  same  for 
all  men,  and  the  human  mind  is  everywhere  the  same,  but  the 
two  must  be  brought  into  contact.  What  has  been  reached  by 
one  mind  can  be  transferred  for  acceptance  or  test  to  another 
mind.  There  remains,  therefore,  slender  reason  for  isolated 
subjectivism  or  barren  mysticism.  The  human  mind  itself 
tends  to  lead  men  into  a  community  of  knowledge.  Nothing 
but  the  willful  disuse  or  perverse  use  of  the  mind  cuts  the 
consciousness  of  humanity  in  twain. 

SUMMING   UP, 

then,  we  find  that  many  persons  make  an  unwarranted  dis- 
tinction between  faith  and  knowledge.  In  general,  the  differ- 
ence between  them  is  that  faith  applies  to  our  knowledge  at  its 
source,  in  its  individual  character  and  unreasoned  form,  resting 
in  its  own  self-evidence,  while  knowledge  is  the  term  used 
when  our  spontaneous  convictions  are  rationally  verified  and 
accurately  set  forth.  Revelation  becomes  a  new  source  to  us, 
and  again  we  use  the  term  faith,  the  contents  of  revelation 
being  in  a  measure  distinct  from  the  historical  evidence.  Self- 
evidence  in  things  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  while  highly 
valuable  wherever  appearing,  is  not  always  to  be  found  or 
demanded.  In  Christian  experience  we  have  still  a  new  use 
for  the  term  faith,  applying  it  now,  in  so  far  as  its  intellectual 
reference  is  concerned,  to  a  restored  and  special  acquaintance 
with  God.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  faith,  having 
the  same  cognitive  character  as  knowledge,  is  as  essential  to 


22  FAITH   AND    KNOWLEDGE. 

physical  science'  and  to  intellectual  pnd  moral  science  as  to 
theology  and  religion.  It  has  been  shown,  also,  that  men  have 
their  developed  convictions  under  their  own  control, — their 
activity,  their  fidelity,  their  courage,  all  entering  into  the 
nature  and  completeness  of  their  beliefs.  As  already  indicated, 
there  may  be  named,  with  the  explanations  as  given,  three 
sources  of  religious  truth.  The  first  is  intuition,  the  second  is 
revelation,  and  the  third  is  Christian  experience.  They  are 
neither  distinct  nor  parallel  in  what  they  supply,  nor  coordinate 
in  authority.  As  regards  authority,  natural  intuition  and 
reflection  examine  the  credentials  of  revelation,  and  then  God 
is  heard  in  what  he  adds  to  prior  knowledge  and  assurance. 
In  a  special  sense,  revelation  supplies  the  representations  for 
cognition  of  reality  in  Christian  experience.  Thus  the  first 
source  bears  us  up  to  the  second,  and  then  the  second  to  the 
third, — all  of  them,  however,  continuing  according  to  their 
nature  to  supply  us.  Christian  consciousness  is  the  restora- 
tion and  completion  of  the  natural  religious  consciousness  of 
the  race,  and  thus  seems  not  entitled  to  rank  with  intuition 
and  revelation  as  before  described.  But  inasmuch  as  its  office 
is  to  survey,  in  addition  to  what  belongs  to  the  first  creation, 
new  realities  and  manifestations  in  connection  with  the  fall 
and  redemption  of  man,  it  is  right  to  give  it  a  distinct  place. 
Some  persons  speak  of  the  church  as  the  third  source,  probably 
having  in  mind  the  consciousness  in  which  believers  in  all  ages 
have  been  sharers. 

Now  the  practical  question  arises  as  to  what  we  are  going  to 
do  with  the  wealth  with  which  heaven  has  dowered  us.  I  trust 
that  I  have  not  spoken  without  appreciation  of  our  com- 
mon heritage  in  the  spontaneous  beliefs  and  utterances  of 
men.  But  the  fact  that  our  constitution  makes  it  possible  for 
us  to  go  beyond  this,  makes  it  evident  that  we  were  not  in- 
tended to  remain  here.  Doubt  and  assault  and  the  danger  of 
losing  our  hold  on  the  science  and  thinking  of  our  age,  compel 
our  action;  and  the  rich  possibilities  in  the  establishment  and 
completion  of  the  edifice  of  Christian  truth  and  in  commend- 


FAITH    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  23 

ing  our  faith  to  others,  inspire  us  to  earnest  and  tireless  effort. 
Self,  God,  and  the  wo^ld,  the  last  including  all  things  aside 
from  self  and  God,  furnish  the  objects  of  our  quest  and  the 
materials  with  which  we  build.  Let  it  be  understood  that  we 
begin  with  individual  perceptions  and  discoveries,  and  that 
from  first  to  last  the  concrete  character  of  our  investigations  is 
to  be  kept  in  view.  This  mode  of  treatment  or  procedure  gives 
to  our  work  all  of  the  interest  and  evident  character  of  what 
we  call  the  natural  sciences.  I  do  not  ignore  the  necessity  and 
dignity  of  abstract  thought,  or  fail  to  admire  those  hierarchies 
of  concepts  by  which  man  rises  to  the  empire  of  the  universe. 
Yet  in  regard  to  concrete  realities  more  truly  than  in  regard  to 
abstract  conceptions  he  may  exclaim  with  Kepler,  "O  God, 
I  think  thy  thoughts  after  thee."  The  thought  of  God  is 
enshrined  in  the  universe,  and  man's  mind,  a  copy  of  the 
divine  mind,  may  follow  and  appropriate  that  thought.  Man, 
however,  is  finite,  and  he  must  begin  with  individual  things  and 
proceed  by  safe  paces.  Yet  we  have  the  confidence  that  the 
knowledge  which  we  gain  is  true  for  all  minds  and  all  worlds, 
and  that  the  humble  beginning  which  we  make  here  will  be  the 
foundation  for  all  that  we  shall  gather  in  the  eternity  to  come. 
Sloth  says  that  the  advantages  are  not  obvious  enough;  that  it 
is  tiresome  to  examine  foundations  so  closely;  and  that  there  is 
always  the  hazard  of  going  wrong.  This  simply  means  that 
we  are  tried  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting.  It  is  our  duty 
and  privilege  to  build  up  theology  as  the  queen  of  the  sciences; 
and  also  to  vindicate  the  truth  that  not  only  the  knowing  mind, 
as  Tertullian  expresses  it,  is  "naturally  Christian,"  but  that  the 
universe,  with  its  field  for  innumerable  sciences,  is  also,  so  to 
speak,  naturally  Christian.  Within  the  encasement  of  faith 
are  the  germs  from  which  the  harvests  of  beauty  and  joy  of 
the  future  are  to  spring.  First  faith,  then  knowledge,  then 
power,  then  triumph. 


BX9878.9  .D79  .  . 

Faith  and  knowledge  ;  an  address 

Princeton  Theological  5eminary-Speer  Library 


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